When The Bell Rings
by Rosebud77
Summary: Karkat goes to school yet another day when he runs into some gossip that he just can't get out of his head. Requested by someone on my Instagram account: @Actual rainbowdrinker kanaya


The bell rang.

He was late because of his dad again.

No one even noticed when he walked through the door. The teacher glances and then continues lecturing.

Math class consisted of people arguing over the square root of pi... or something like that. It's not like he paid much attention anyway.

Karkat looks down at his notebook; little scribbles about everyone on the football team.

Dave Strider- MAJOR ASSHOLE, TEAM CAPTAIN, POPULAR

Dirk Strider- DEFINATELY GAY FOR JAKE, SHITTY DEFENDER, POPULAR

Jake English-PROBABLY GAY, BENCH WARMER, SEMI-POPULAR

His eyes wander. The list goes on but he doesn't care, he already knew what the players were like because he was co-captain. He thought being on the team would make him "cool", maybe make people get past his stony exterior. He was wrong. Now he is just another douche in tight pants. The team chose him as their leader because he was bossy enough already, but then the Striders moved from Texas and fucked up the whole chain of command.

"Mr. Vantas, care to answer?" are the words that snap him back to reality.

'shit, what did the asswipe even ask.' crosses your mind. You squint to read the sloppily-written equation on the board.

"Two." the scrawny kid next to you whispers.

"Two." He repeats to the teacher.

He nods and then turns to explain, you write down a note on a scrap of paper and pass it over.

"THANKS, SOLLUX"

The bell rings.

Break time.

He walks through the halls with a death grip on the spine of his biology book.

'Don't look now but Vriska and the cheerteam are bullying Tavros again.' you think as you pass them by. 'Eridan is STILL trying to hit on Feferi. Oh god, didn't he learn from last time?'

Altern High was always flooded with drama. "_ is dating _", "_ broke up with _", and OF COURSE "Dave is cheating on terezi."

He halts in the middle of the hallway. His eyes dart around and land on Nepeta gossiping to Meulin.

He scoots over to the lockers near them and listens quietly.

"I heard that he was doing that one chess nerd... Egbert or something?" Nepeta grins, "I KNEW it was going to happen sometime. Homosexuality practically runs through their veins."

Meulin giggles and then digs through her backpack for something. He doesn't want to hear anymore.

'Terezi. The girl who always smiles at me in Debate class, even though she has no idea what I look like.'

The pictures in his mind flicker from her smiling to her laughing to her doodling something in red ink.

'Didn't I go to elementry school with her or something? Oh, RIGHT.'

She only hung out with Vriska, and Gamzee used to put boogers in her hair.

Then one year she didn't come to school. When she came back, she had a cane and nobody really understood the concept of blindness. That's the year she sat alone, drawing cruddy dragons on the blacktop with chalk. She claimed that her mom taught her how to "taste colors". Everyone just thought she was crazy and they avoided her for the most part.

Karkat felt bad for her. She was on the Mock Trial team and she still didn't have many friends. Somehow she managed to snag the most popular boy in school and they have been dating since October. Well, WERE. Someone will tell her that Dave is a butt pirate sometime or another.

The bell rings.

Debate class.

She's sitting directly across the room from him and talking to herself quietly.

He can't stop staring at the poor girl. Almost as if she can sense him watching, she looks in his general direction.

He knows she can't see him but by force of habit he looks away quickly.

He hangs his head low, 'what do I care if her boyfriend is a jerk. It's not like she's my friend, and Dave isn't really my enemy. So, why does it matter to me.'

Class goes by at an awkward crawl. He keeps his head down to stop staring at her and doodles instead of arguing over abortion topics.

The bell rings.

FINALLY.

In one quick movement, he stuffs all of the junk from his desk into his backpack and heads for the door.

A hand catches his arm. He gets jerked back and the students pile out. The teacher is zoned out in the corner of the room watching titanic.

"Why were you looking at me like that?", She inquired.

'what', you think.

"what?", he blurts.

"You were staring at me as if I had eight eyes and giant horns coming out of my head."

She leans back against the wall.

"I wasn't looking at you." He stutters.

"I'm not an idiot. Call it a 'sixth sense' or just a replacement for my sight, but I can tell when someone is glaring at me from across the room." Her bored expression changes into a sly smile. "I have a boyfriend you know."

His cheeks burst red.

"Terezi... I think we should talk. Somewhere else." comes from his lips.

'fuck, did I just ask her out.' you wonder.

A little chuckle escapes from her throat. "Is this your idea of asking me out?" she grins.

'I can't just say no. But I can't say yes either.'

"No, I just wanted to ask for help in... Debate. You do so well and i'm floundering for words half the time."

Awkward laugh.

"O-kay... Don't you have practice or something?"

"Oh, uh, no it got cancelled because the grass needs to be mowed."

'Bullshit. Complete bullshit. She can see through your lies, asswipe.'

She pauses. He sweats.

"Alright. Meet me at the library at 8:00. That's when I get out of Mock Trial."

She hoists her bag onto her shoulder and flicks her cane.

"Don't be late, Karkat."

She saunters down the now emptied halls, her stick clicking against the linoleum.

The bell rings.

Her face haunts his daydreams in Biology.

The bells rings.

Her little giggle is the only noise he hears in English.

The bell rings.

School is out for the day.

He skips practice and goes home nervous. A couple arguements with his Dad and he's off the hook. Upstairs, he showers and throws on a clean-ish t-shirt. He smiles while brushing his teeth, 'Maybe this is kind of like a date.'

His smile fades a little, 'Well not really, i'm going to break her heart.'

He grabs the keys to his trucks and arrives at the school library at 7:54.

She's already been waiting outside, and he feels terrible.

"Hey," he called.

"Hey," she replied.

He jogs to her and takes her hand, leading her to his car. He opens the door and helps her into the seat, then shuts it gently. When he gets inside she begins chatting non-chalantly. He doesn't know how to tell her gently enough.

"Terezi," he gulped.

She stops and turns to face him.

"Yeah?" she beams.

"Dave is cheating on you." He mumbles.

"What?" she asked

"He's cheating on you with John." He mutters, louder this time.

"Oh," she sighs.

"I'm really sorry you had to hear it from me. I just couldn't let it slide for some reason, I mean, Dave's a good gu-"

She cuts him off, "I knew."

"What?"

Now it's his turn to be confused.

"Well, I wasn't certain. I thought it was just a raunchy girl. I could smell their stink all over him. But John? I never could've guessed."

He sits silently.

"So i'm guessing this isn't some really lame date, right? Just an excuse to get me alone so you could tell me."

He laughs lightly. "Well, at first it was just to tell you, but I think we should go out for some ice cream."

"Yeah," She smiles gently, " I could go for some ice cream right about now."

"Alright."

He turns on the car and pulls the gear out of park.

"Oh, and Karkat?"

"Yeah?" He looks at her quickly.

"Thanks for reading me that book in fifth grade."

She leans towards him and plants a kiss on his cheek.

All he can think while driving is: Thank god for school and when the bell rings.


End file.
